Arlington, Lakeland Early Voting Ends Saturday

By Bill Dries

Early voting comes to an end Saturday, Sept. 14, in the first two of 11 elections between now and Thanksgiving.

Early voting in the Arlington and Lakeland municipal elections ends Saturday, Sept. 14, with a day of early voting in Lakeland at theRefuge church. Election day in both towns is Sept. 19.

(Daily News File/Lance Murphey)

Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is the last chance for voters in Arlington and Lakeland to vote in municipal elections at the Shelby County Election Commission offices at 157 Poplar Ave. Lakeland voters can also vote Saturday only at theRefuge church, 9817 Huff ‘n’ Puff Road.

Through Sept. 7, 284 citizens had voted early in both sets of elections. All but 13 of those early votes came on the single day of early voting in Arlington on Sept. 7.

The Lakeland early vote and Sept. 19 election day turnout is expected to be higher than the same Arlington turnout because the Lakeland municipal races are topped by the three-way race for mayor among incumbent Scott Carmichael, former Lakeland Mayor Jim Bomprezzi and Shelby County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker.

Also on the Lakeland ballot is a single election in which voters will elect two town commissioners.

Arlington voters have three separate races for aldermen on their ballot.

The Sept. 19 election day is for both Arlington and Lakeland.

Meanwhile, the Shelby County Election Commission at a special meeting Thursday, Sept. 12, removed the name of Dwight DeBerry as a candidate in the Oct. 8 state House District 91 Democratic primary election.

A 1992 felony conviction makes DeBerry ineligible to run. He did not indicate the felony conviction in his qualifying paperwork to be a candidate. And he took no action to restore his citizenship rights by the Aug. 29 filing deadline in the race.

DeBerry’s disqualification leaves a field of seven candidates in the Democratic primary to fill the vacancy created by the July death of state Rep. Lois DeBerry.

The winner of the primary meets independent candidate Jim Tomasik in the Nov. 21 special general election for the seat in Nashville.

No candidates filed for the Republican primary.

Early voting in advance of the Oct. 8 Democratic primary election day opens Sept. 18 at Shelby County Election Commission offices at 157 Poplar Ave. only. That is the day before election day in Arlington and Lakeland.

Early voting in the state house Democratic primary expands to several satellite sites on Aug. 27. That is the day after the qualifying deadline for candidates in the six sets of school board races in Shelby County’s six suburban towns and cities where municipal school districts are being formed.

Through Wednesday, 54 prospective candidates had picked up qualifying petitions across the set of six elections. The 22 petitions in the seven races for the Millington school board made it the busiest potential field of school board contenders so far.

But only three of the 22 had filed their petitions through Wednesday – Gregory Ritter for Position 1, Thomas D. Stephens for Position 6 and Donald K. Holsinger for Position 7.

None of the seven contenders with petitions out in Lakeland had filed as of Wednesday, possibly waiting for potential supporters to shift their attention from the town’s race for mayor.

The school board seats in all six sets of elections are for positions that each cover the entire town or city and not by districts within the city or town. Because of that some of the 22 petitions issued in Millington are multiple petitions to one citizen for several school board positions. Those contenders will have to make a decision about which race to make by the Sept. 26 filing deadline.

Of six would-be contenders in the Arlington school board races, Danny D. Young has filed for Position 1, Dexter Orman for Position 2 and Dale A. Vick for Position 5.

Five of the six prospective candidates in the Bartlett school board races have filed. They are Erin Berry and Alison Shores for Position 2, Shirley K. Jackson for Position 3, Donald B. Woodruff for Position 4 and David M. Cook for Position 5.

Collierville has four contenders who have filed out of five with petitions. Kevin Vaughan has filed for Position 1, Wanda Chism for Position 2, Mark Hansen for Position 3 and Catherine W. Messerly for Position 4.

Of the eight petitions out in Germantown, only Edgar A. Babian has filed for Position 1.